Spread these Fluffy Buttermilk Raisin Scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam for the best English cream tea.
I’ve been a bit strawberry mad lately, so this is the last time you’ll see a hint of a strawberry for at least a week or two I promise!
Besides, this isn’t actually a strawberry recipe. This is my classic scone recipe. Light and fluffy and packed with raisins, they really do taste fab with a nice cup of tea.
I made and photographed this recipe a couple of months ago for Craftberry Bush – Lucy Akin’s beautiful website that I’m thrilled to write for. Lucy is kindly allowing me to share any recipes that I write for her site on my blog too, so I couldn’t wait to get these yummy treats on here for you.
Before we get into the recipe though, I’m interested to know how you pronounce scones.
Scones as in ‘ones’ or scones as in ‘cones’. It’s an endless debate in our house, as I use the first pronunciation and Chris, pronounces it the second way. Neither of us will ever back down, and our poor kids have even started using it as a tool to get brownie points (‘mummy I love your sc-ones, please may I have one?’ Or ‘Daddy, it’s definitely s-cones isn’t it. Shall we watch Lego movie now?’).
Of course that’s nothing to the age-old argument between Devon and Cornwall (the two southern UK counties that are most famous for selling the ‘cream tea’ as they call it). The population of Devon firmly believes that the clotted cream should be spread on first, followed by the jam (jelly). Whilst those from Cornwall go for jam first and then cream. You can see from the pictures whose side I’m on.
All of these arguments over a little cake (which you could actually argue is a sweet bread, rather than a cake…).
More Scone Recipes:
And check our my Cakes and Treats category for more sweet treat inspiration!
The Fluffy Buttermilk Raisin Scones Recipe:
Fluffy Buttermilk Raisin Scones
Ingredients
- 450 g (3 3/4 cups) self-raising flour (if you can’t find self-raising flour, then replace with plain (all-purpose) flour plus 2 level tablespoons of baking powder and an extra ¼ tsp salt), plus extra for dusting
- ¼ tsp salt
- 100 g (7 tbsp) cold butter diced
- 85 g (1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp) golden caster sugar
- 150 g (3/4 cup) raisins
- 1 large egg
- 285 ml (1 cup + 3 tbsp) buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- splash of milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F/200C (fan) and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
- Place the flour, salt, and butter into a large bowl and rub together with your fingertips until the mix resembles breadcrumbs.450 g (3 3/4 cups) self-raising flour, ¼ tsp salt, 100 g (7 tbsp) cold butter
- Add the sugar and raisins and give it a quick mix.85 g (1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp) golden caster sugar, 150 g (3/4 cup) raisins
- Break the egg into a small bowl, give it a quick whisk with a fork, and then pour it into the flour mixture – reserving 1 tbsp of it for glazing the scones later.1 large egg
- Add in the ¾ of the buttermilk and the vanilla extract and use a round-ended knife to work the mixture together. Add the rest of the buttermilk and work in gently until you have a soft, slightly sticky dough. Don't overwork, or you'll get tough scones.285 ml (1 cup + 3 tbsp) buttermilk, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Tip out the dough onto a floured surface and flatten it out with your hands so that it's about 1” (2.5cm) thick. Use a round cutter (mine was 3” (8cm) in diameter) dipped in flour (to prevent it sticking) and cut out your scones. Make sure you just press the cutter down rather than twist it - otherwise, you'll get scones that rise a bit wonky. Gather the leftover dough, gently rework, and cut out the rest of the scones until all the dough is used.
- Place onto the prepared baking tray. Mix the reserved tbsp of egg with the splash of milk and brush the tops only (brushing the sides will impair the rising of the scones) with this mix and place in the oven for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.splash of milk
- Remove from the oven, leave to cool, and serve sliced in half with clotted cream and jam/jelly.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is the best scone recipe I’ve ever made, and I’ve made a lot! I followed the recipe exactly except I didn’t have buttermilk but I did have heavy cream so I added the juice of half a lemon to the cream and let it sit while I prepared everything else. I also only had organic, seedless, jumbo raisins which I used. The ones that stick out get caramelized in the oven ….. ohhhh so good! Before baking I glazed the scones with the leftover egg and then finely sprinkled a little sugar on top. I did have to bake mine for longer than the recipe time, probably about 19 minutes. The scones are definitely light and fluffy with a crispy outside and are absolutely delicious. This is my forever scone recipe 🥰. Thanks for sharing this delightful recipe with us Nicky!
Easy recipe to follow, the scones turned out light & fluffy. I’ll definitely use this recipe again
Light and fluffy,
Best scones I’ve ever made.
Thank you for the recipe.
Made several times, come out brilliantly.
Light and fluffy, lovely scones
These scones are amazing. I was going to have them with just butter but once they came out of the oven I couldn’t resist nipping to the shop for clotted cream and jam. They were lovely, the scones were light and fluffy and still slightly warm. Yum.
Butter is always in grams so it was rather odd to diced up 7 tablespoons of cold butter ? Is that normally how you use butter?
Hi Shana,
We do our best to make our recipes universal and usable for all countries so sometimes we use a measure that’s consistent with all US, UK, Australia and beyond.
7 tbsp of cold butter is 100g
Thanks
Chris & Nicky
I love these buttermilk scones, this is my go to recipe for scones. So light and fluffy.
These buttermilk raisin scones had no taste. Jam didn’t improve them much.
Thats a shame, this is a classic scone recipe and one we have been making for a while, they are not supposed to be overly sweet or cake like. Did you change any of the ingredients or the method?, just trying to understand what could have gone wrong for you.